Whither or Whether e-Book Readers? Arnold Hirshon NELINET

Thanks to Diane Costello I thought I had nothing to say Diane Costello told me that I should say something Please blame Diane

Mobile Computing: E-Book Status

eWeek: Biggest Tech Disappointments of

Amazon Kindle Kindle sold out within the 5.5 hours Amazon won’t reveal how many were sold Are there are production issues or is Amazon creating the perception of high demand? Anecdotal publisher reports: Kindle may be selling briskly Scott Morrison. “Amazon Hopes to Resolve 'Kindle' Backlog Within Weeks. (Wall Street Journal: 3/21/2008) Amazon Kindle

Emerging Portable Devices: Flex and Fold Displays Larger-format electronic paper expected soon Polymer Vision Readius PARC Pocket Display

Emerging Portable Devices Designed by Nokia, RISD, MIT, & Helsinki University of Technology Provides travel, mapping, GPS, and location-aware features Doubles as a watch when not in use Has a multi-touch, removable screen Provides access to travel guides, local businesses, Wi-Fi, public transportation info, and more RFID provides location-based content The R66 Mobile Device

Questions Who personally regularly uses a dedicated e- reader to read books cover-to-cover? –NOT your iPhone or smartphone –NOT your smartphone to read occasional stuff –IS a Kindle, Sony eReader, or another dedicated book reader – particularly one that uses e-ink technology rather than a backlit display Which consortia are actually testing dedicated readers in a real-life experiment? Which consortia have actually negotiated content that is optimized for these e-readers? What has the experience been?

Advantages of E-readers Compact Easy to read screen with higher contrast ratio as the ambient lighting level increases High storage (80 or more books) Kindle: online connectivity and book downloads Multifunctional devices (can use as an MP3 player; can load your own documents to read)

Limits of E-Readers Each uses a proprietary format Meant to read books end-to-end, e.g., novels or biographies) Still black-and-white only Not good for textbooks

More Questions Are eReaders relevant to: –Libraries? –Consortia? Are librarians too finicky? –Do we look for all the problems and none of the advantages? What should consortia do?

Arnold Hirshon Executive Director NELINET